Obscure Group Blamed for Shootout that Kills Three Soldiers in North-Central Laos

Bodies of three Lao soldiers shot dead in a clash with an anti-government group in Xaysomboun Province around Nov. 23-24.

RFA

An exchange of gunfire between an obscure armed group and local troops in Laos' north-central Xaysomboun Province in late November left three government soldiers dead and some others injured, according to a local military source.

“There was gunfire between a Lao anti-government resistance group and Lao soldiers at Nam Yon area in Xaysomboun province around November 23 or 24, killing three soldiers and some others injured,” a retired Lao soldier close to a high-ranking officer in the Ministry of Defense told RFA's Lao Service this week.

In comments to RFA on Tuesday, the retired soldier also reported two earlier, separate incidents in which passenger vehicles were fired on, killing one person and injuring six others. Those car shootings took place between Nov. 15 and 18, the retired soldier said.

RFA called Military Hospital 103 on Wednesday, but officers declined to comment on the incidents.

It was not clear if the incidents, which have not been reported in Lao's tightly controlled state media, were related. The anti-government group's size and motives were not known.

Local residents told RFA on Friday that security had been beefed up in the area since the incident.

The shootout in Xaysomboun, which is near the capital Vientiane, came a week after security authorities in the capital seized a number of weapons, including AK-47s and M16s that were hidden in a car near the Number One Lao-Thai Mekong River Friendship Bridge, sources in the city told RFA.

A total of eight suspects were arrested after the weapons seizure, including two near the river border bridge and six more who were captured along with more guns in the Ngoi district of Luang Prabang province, a relative of one of the suspects told RFA.

Reported and translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA’s Lao Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

Anonymous Reader

Where is oppressed there is revolted.

Dec 08, 2015 07:56 AM

Anonymous Reader

from
VIENTIANE

RFA is the only source of information that able to provide such news in regard this kind of Lao's government forces attack on the minority group. Otherwise, there is no other new was able to get such new out of this country due to Lao’s government restriction. However, other source reported from there that this attack still going on in the area, and curfew has been imposed on every village from 8:00 PM until 8:00 AM. Any curfew violation is subject to shoot and kill. Lao’s government also imposed restrictions on foreigners not to travel any closer to Xaysomboun province. Furthermore, RFA needs to gather more news on this attack out of this country; so the world would know what is going on in this country since Lao’s government has recently declared that Lao has been secured and stability since 1975.